January 17, 2025

Silk and Luck

Yesterday started at 5:45 A.M. when we all dragged ourselves downstairs to load onto a bus with very little idea of where we were headed. About an hour and a half into the bus ride we stopped in Ramanagara, at the Government Cocoon Market. As we walked under the green arch into the market, all you could see were carts lining the hallways filled with cocoons. For a second it reminded me of the KR market, except there were a lot less people and obviously no flowers.

This market is about 90 years old and every day it hosts 600-700 silk farmers and silk reelers. The silk farmers rotate day to day as they only need to come to the market once a month. Whereas the silk reelers come everyday to purchase cocoons by participating in the two auctions. The first auction starts at 10 A.M. and lasts for 30 minutes. During this time the silk reelers use a mobile app to place bids on each cart of cocoons. The cocoons are priced per kg and the highest bidder at the end of the 30 minutes wins. Granted the farmer agrees with the price and accepts their offer. The next, and final auction of the day starts at 11 A.M. and follows the same rules as the first.

Since we arrived at 7:30 A.M. many farmers were either filling their carts with cocoons or killing time by talking with each other. This made it easy for Bhargavi to quickly locate a farmer willing to speak with us. Once she did we all crowded around as she patiently translated our questions. Here we learned that India is the second largest producer of silk, and that most of the silk produced in India is also consumed here. The farmer also told us that it requires 6 kg of silk cocoons to produce a single kg of weavable silk. For me though, the most interesting part was when he spoke about how much a single kg of cocoons typically sells for.

He said that he normally makes about 650 rupees per kg of cocoons. This sparked a later conversation with Bhargavi about the minimum wages in India. She said that the minimum wage is about 700 rupees per day or about 255,500 rupees per year. This translates to only $2,900 dollars per year for minimum wage workers.

Through these last two weeks in India I have wondered where I fit in on the economic ladder. Are my 60 rupee choco cold coffees from the BMS cafe accessible to the majority of Indians? Or how about the 100 – 200 rupee auto rides that none of us worry about because it’s only a few dollars? Of course the answer varies a lot, much like it would in the U.S. but I know that I am very lucky to even have the opportunity to ask these questions. Because for the minimum wage worker in India, an $7000, 3-month study abroad program would not even be close to an option. So for the remainder of my 8 weeks here I hope to learn more about the daily lives of the people around me, as well as recognize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to be here in the first place.

By,
Kalli